SnoopyStyle

Olive Oyl invites Popeye over to her place for a hamburger dinner. His roommate Wimpy overhears the conversation and joins Popeye in a Popeye disguise. Popeye cannot believe his eyes and Olive Oyl cannot see the difference. In fact, Wimpy talks himself into the dinner and Popeye is left out.

This is a rare Popeye cartoon where Wimpy goes full villain. Wimpy does some bad stuff sometimes, but he is rarely the big bad. There is a reason for that. In reality, Wimpy poses no threat to Popeye. His villainy is not much more than a nothing burger. This is really only at the level of a childish prank.

Reporter Tom Nash (Robert Urich) moved his two kids (Chay Lentin, Johnny Galecki) to a small Wisconsin town to write more humanist columns. It is three years after his wife was killed by a terrorist car bomb while reporting in Lebanon. Joe Baines (Jeffrey Tambor) is the managing editor of The Chicago American and desperate to keep Tom writing for him. Lillian Abernathy (Carol Kane) is his wacky new hire secretary. Holly Baker (Margaret Welsh) runs the local diner hangout.

On the surface, this is a standard network sitcom with a laugh track. Underneath it, there are important differences. First, it's Robert Urich leading a family sitcom. He is not that comedic, but he could be father knows best. This is not his natural space. Second is the inciting incident. A terrorist car bomb killing your wife is not the usual starting point for a network sitcom. I can't remember a successful sitcom which starts with 9/11. It paints the show with a dark shading. That is fine, but maybe not for a network sitcom with a laugh track. Finally, the biggest difference are the scenes where Urich breaks the fourth wall in front of a darken stage like a play. It reminds me of Our Town and once again, there is this sad poignant feel to the show. My main suggestion is to take away the laugh track. This show needs to be something different.

It is the Batman comic book come to life in a children's TV show. Batman (Adam West) and his sidekick Robin (Burt Ward) with help from the butler Alfred (Alan Napier) have to battle a rogues gallery of villains. For the first two seasons, the episodes usually come in two parts dealing with a single villain. There is the closing narration at the end of the first episode and the recap in the second. That does change a bit for the third season. The third season is most notably changed by the addition of Batgirl (Yvonne Craig). Yvonne is a cutie tiny dancer and she almost becomes the lead of the show although she does get tied down a lot. I wonder why. Adding Batgirl is a good change. Also, Eartha Kitt takes over Catwoman from Julie Newmar. Both are great in their own ways. Of the villains, there are The Joker (Cesar Romero) and The Penguin (Burgess Meredith). I love The Riddler (Frank Gorshin) the most due to his riddles. It adds some fun wordplay in the writing. Otherwise, the show can get repetitive. I don't like some of the second tier villains. Worst yet are the historical figures. I really don't like the Robin Hood episode and the feminist takeover is insulting. There were probably only a few girls watching this back in the day. Despite the bad stuff, this is an iconic campy show. There is good badness here and one can have fun with it.